Included in the ranking is the more recent Rider University Chick-fil-A controversy,

UMD's 'White Awake' backlash, and

SDSU's anti-Trump course criticism.

In the final installment of Campus Reform's 2018 Year In Review, we reviewed each of the previous categories, including most outrageous protest, most anti-conservative statements, most egregious arrests, and most politically biased courses, in order to determine the overall five craziest campus stories of 2018.

Of the dozens of stories included in these lists, here are the 5 craziest this year.

"we reviewed each of the previous categories, including most outrageous protest, most anti-conservative statements, most egregious arrests, and most politically biased courses, in order to determine the overall five craziest campus stories of 2018..."

In November, the administration at Rider University surveyed students to determine which restaurant to bring to campus next year. Out of the options, a majority of student voters chose Chick-fil-A.

However, despite the survey results, the college administration declined to allow the fast-food chain on campus claiming that the university’s “values” of “inclusion” did not align with those of Chick-fil-A’s.

2. University announces “White Awake” safe space for white students

The University of Maryland at College Park offered a diversity support group in September called “White Awake” to help white students who “sometimes feel uncomfortable and confused before, during, or after interactions with racial and ethnic minorities.”

After Campus Reform reported on the counseling group, the University of Maryland at College Park renamed the group, “Anti-Racism and Ally Building Group." The description of the group was also changed and now reads, "Do you want to improve your ability to relate to and connect with people different from yourself? Do you want to become a better ally? Members will support and share feedback with each other as they learn more about themselves and how they can fit into a diverse world."

3. UT makes student reflect on 'masculinity' as punishment

In the spring, Campus Reform reported that the University of Texas-Austin forced a student to write a response paper about a movie on toxic masculinity after a Title IX investigation found him guilty of harassing another student. The student claims the university’s determination against him was “questionable” and alleged the university was discriminating against him in an act of “anti-male bias.”

In a letter obtained by Campus Reform, UT president, Gregory Fenves, wrote to the student that, “nothing you allege, even if true, would change the ultimate outcome of this matter.”

Actress Meryl Streep poses for photographers upon arrival at the British Academy Film Awards in London, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Actress Meryl Streep attacked Mrs. Trump during an interview with the New York Times, deflecting her relationship with alleged serial sexual harasser Harvey Weinstein.

“I don’t want to hear about the silence of me,” Streep said. “I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump. I want to hear from her. She has so much that’s valuable to say. And so does Ivanka. I want her to speak now.”

Former Netflix talk show host Michelle Wolf, whose show was canceled, opened one of her monologues this year by saying she really hoped President Trump did not hurt Mrs. Trump because “then we couldn’t make fun of her anymore.”

“And finally, after not being seen for 25 days, Melania has reappeared following her kidney surgery,” Wolf said, gesturing air quotes while saying kidney surgery. “Some people are saying this is Melania’s cover for plastic surgery but, I don’t buy that. Her husband obviously loves her for who she is.”

“Whatever really happened with Melania, I genuinely hope it doesn’t come out that Donald hurt her,” Wolf said, adding, “because that’s bad” and “then we couldn’t make fun of her anymore.”

A reoccurring theme of left-wing comedians’ stand-up routines this year has been perpetuating the myth that Mrs. Trump does not want to be First Lady, nor does she want to live in the White House.

During a segment on his late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel mocked Mrs. Trump as trying to use “escape tunnels” to get out of the White House.

“It is very interesting and weird, because exactly one year ago today, a sinkhole opened at Mar-a-Lago,” Kimmel said. “And now there’s one outside the White House. I’m starting to think maybe God’s aim is slightly off.”

“Are we sure this is a sinkhole and not one of Melania’s escape tunnels?” Kimmel asked. “I don’t want to read into it, but she did ask for a headlamp for Mother’s Day.”

A mysterious grand jury subpoena case has been working itself through the D.C. courts since August. Doughty reporting by Politico linked the grand jury case to special counsel Robert Mueller. Some of us, connecting the dots, wondered whether Mueller’s antagonist in this secret subpoena battle might be President Donald Trump himself. Speculation heightened two weeks ago when the D.C. Circuit cleared an entire floor of reporters assembled for the oral argument, in order to protect the identity of the litigants.

Four days later, the D.C. Circuit judges burst the speculative bubble with a decision that halfway revealed the identity of the party litigating against the government: not Trump, but an unnamed corporation (“the Corporation”) owned by an unnamed foreign state (“Country A”). Although the case is still plenty mysterious (What foreign state? What records of what transactions? Why the hard-fought litigation?), the evident fact that Trump was not directly involved in the litigation seemingly drained further proceedings of direct suspense. Mueller watchers headed off for the holidays.

And then, last week, on the Sunday before Christmas, Chief Justice John Roberts personally intervened in this matter.

That’s right: The chief justice of the United States himself issued an order on a Sunday, in this very case. If you think that’s highly unusual, you’re right. And the action he took was equally unusual. At least for the moment calling into question the unanimous decisions of the courts below, the chief justice blocked the District Court’s order requiring the foreign corporation to comply with the grand jury subpoena, until the government’s lawyers could respond to the Corporation’s briefings.

So now, in abrupt fashion, Mueller’s investigation has suddenly reached the Supreme Court, and with the personal attention of the chief justice, no less.

What does this all mean? Let’s try to unpack it.

This month's three-page summary D.C. Circuit decision revealed a fairly dry set of legal issues that just might conceal a juicy core. The dry issues involved matters of jurisdiction and statutory interpretation fathomed only by elite appellate lawyers, but the potentially juicier underlying issues hinted of fascination: Somewhere, a corporation (a bank? a communications firm? an energy company?) owned by a foreign state (Russia? Turkey? Ukraine? United Arab Emirates? Saudi Arabia?) had engaged in transactions that had an impact in the United States and on matters involved in the special counsel’s investigation.

Intriguingly, the decision revealed that a regulator from Country A had filed a submission claiming that compliance with the subpoena would cause the Corporation to violate Country A’s law. So whoever Country A is, this matter captured its officials’ attention and prompted them to send filings to a faraway country to block the subpoena. Why does Country A care? And, what is it trying to hide?

So, from the D.C. Circuit's decision we learned that a foreign government was actively involved in...

When the Democrats and the media wanted to prove that Russian trolls were everywhere, and supporting Republicans, they turned to Jonathon Morgan and Renee DiResta.

Morgan and DiResta had originally been part of Obama’s futile effort to fight ISIS on social media, before discovering a much more lucrative field. ISIS was losing on the battlefield and the Democrats were losing elections. The Hillary campaign had hatched a conspiracy theory blaming its loss on Russian trolls. And Morgan and DiResta soon became the experts providing the data linking Republicans to Russian trolls.

Every time there was a story on Russian election interference, Morgan would show up on CNN or NBC. And his message was the same, the Russian bots were everywhere and they were a major threat.

Morgan and DiResta soon had a company name, New Knowledge, and were brought on board by the Senate Intelligence Committee to produce a report on Russian influence operations in the 2016 election. Despite the fact that a second report found that most of the Russian trolling efforts had been directed at African-Americans, the New Knowledge report claimed that this was a Russian conspiracy to aid Trump.

The New York Times, which frequently promoted and published New Knowledge conspiracy theories, all but credited DiResta for having exposed the whole Russian-Republican troll conspiracy, and wrote that, “Senate and House staff members, who knew of DiResta's expertise through her public reports and her previous work advising the Obama administration on disinformation campaigns, had reached out to her and others to help them prepare for the hearings.” They seemingly included Senator Warner’s office.

And it wasn’t just the 2016 election. Morgan, who made no secret of his loathing for conservatives, claimed that the Russian bots were everything and aiding Republicans.

When the #ReleasetheMemo hashtag went viral, Morgan, now running his own company, New Knowledge, was there suggesting it might be Russian bots. The debates about gun control after the Parkland school massacre? More Russian bots. The migrant caravan? Obviously a fake news conspiracy.

"That whole news cycle was dominated by this type of conspiratorial fear-mongering," Morgan sniffed, even though his current career is based around conspiratorial lefty fear-mongering.

And the midterm elections?

"Russians Meddling in the Midterms? Here’s the Data," Morgan and Ryan Fox, a New Knowledge employee, warned. “Our company is currently detecting more overall activity in real time from continuing Russian online influence operations targeting the midterm elections than has been disclosed by social media platforms or detected by researchers during the same period before the election in 2016.”

The Russians were even going all the way into Alabama. “Russian trolls tracked by #Hamilton68 are taking an interest in the AL Senate race. What a surprise,” Morgan tweeted.

It wouldn’t have been much of a surprise to him because the “Russian trolls” supporting Roy Moore in Alabama were actually his trolls.

A New York Times story was forced to reveal that Morgan had participated in what a report described as...

American and Chinese trade negotiators are working out details of a new agreement that could avert a wider trade war as the New Year approaches.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the deal could lead to a boost in U.S. exports to the Asian giant as well as a loosening of regulations that prevent or hamper U.S. firms from operating in China, people familiar with the negotiations said.

POTUS Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had made “great progress” in trade discussions, which are set to wrap up on March 1.

“Deal is moving along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas, and points of dispute,” he tweeted.

The WSJ noted further, however, that other people familiar with the talks say that the president could be overstating the progress. They said that POTUS is looking to calm jittery markets which have been declining in recent weeks, many say due to the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes.

The paper noted further:

If no deal is reached, U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods are due to increase to 25% from 10% on March 2, potentially having a big impact on electronics, furniture, machinery and other U.S. industries that rely on Chinese imports. It could also deepen a slowdown in China’s economy, which would have broad consequences for global growth.A team of U.S. trade officials, including Deputy Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish and Treasury Undersecretary David Malpass is expected to travel to Beijing the week of Jan. 7 for several days of talks.

With just an estimated 300 nuclear warheads compared to the approximately 7,000 fielded by both the U.S. and Russia, China’s nuclear arsenal is comparatively small. But even a few Chinese H-bombs could wreak tremendous damage to the United States.

China has tested a new submarine-launched missile that can hit the United States.

The first flight test of the JL-3 missile was conducted in November from Bohai Bay in the Yellow Sea, according to the South China Morning Post , citing an unnamed source.

“The new missile has a flight range of about 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles), which is less than the 12,000-kilometer (7,500-mile) range of the American Trident II and Russian Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs),” the Post reported. This would give the JL-3, which can be armed with multiple warheads, a range of about 500 to 1,000 miles greater than its predecessor, the JL-2.

The distance between Shanghai and Honolulu is about 4,900 miles, which would put Hawaii within range of Chinese sub-launched missiles, and about 6,100 miles to San Francisco and 7,400 miles to Washington, D.C. However, unlike land-based ICBMs, Chinese subs can sail closer to the American mainland to put U.S. cities within range. Though definite information on China’s missile submarine fleet is elusive, the Pentagon estimates that China now has four Jin-class subs with 12 JL-2 missiles apiece. These will be followed in the 2020s by the Type 096-class, which will be armed with the JL-3.

But China seems to be signaling that it doesn’t want to embark on an arms race with America. The South China Morning Post , based in the Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong, cited several Chinese experts who said the missiles were intended as a deterrent and bargaining chip in China’s fraught relationship with the U.S.

“Beijing will only develop a small number of SSBNs [ballistic missile submarines] and submarine-launched ballistic missiles because its main focus is to make sure the PLA has the most effective and powerful second-strike counter-attack capability in the event that the country is hit by nuclear weapons,” one expert said.

Interestingly, the Post’s source suggested that Chinese sub-launched missiles have a shorter range than American or Russian models because of issues with China’s ballistic missile submarines. “The JL SLBMs have a shorter range because the Chinese military has so far failed to make any significant technology breakthroughs in developing nuclear-powered submarines,” the source said. Chinese experts also suggested that the JL-3 has yet to achieve full range.

If China could boost the JL-3’s range to 7,500 miles, like the Trident, then it could reach the entire United States from subs stationed in waters near the Chinese coast. China maintains Russian-style “bastions” where SSBNs can lurk under the protection of...

Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally. They can’t. If we had a Wall, they wouldn’t even try! The two.....

...children in question were very sick before they were given over to Border Patrol. The father of the young girl said it was not their fault, he hadn’t given her water in days. Border Patrol needs the Wall and it will all end. They are working so hard & getting so little credit!

Earlier in the month a 7-year-old migrant girl suffering from malnourishment died within hours of being apprehended — along with her father — by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for having crossed illegally into the United States. At the time Democrats blamed her death on Trump.

Last week another migrant child — an 8-year-old boy from Guatemala who also crossed into the U.S. illegally — died after his father “declined medical assistance” after the child vomited while in U.S. custody. It was later learned that he’d been suffering from influenza. Again the left blamed Trump.

Every time something tragic happens to a migrant or illegal immigrant in U.S. custody, the left invariably rushes to their microphones to politicize the deaths and attack Trump.

In the president’s tweets Saturday, he suggested that the Democrats’ open-borders advocacy is to blame for incentivizing criminal aliens to drag their children through hell for a chance at illegally crossing into the U.S. and setting up shop in a Democrat-operated...

The Yellow Vest protesters chanted for “Fake news journalists to come down,” and “Macron out!” at the TV station. One protester told RT France that BFM TV spreads false information about the movement, while purposefully understating the size of its demonstrations.

Saturday’s protesters were again driven away with tear gas attacks and a heavy police presence, which has become routine during demonstrations of weeks past.

On Thursday a group of Yellow Vest demonstrators attempted to storm French President Emmanuel Macron’s summer retreat, though it is unclear if he was present at the time. Macron came under fire for a $39 000 swimming pool he had installed at the coastal home.

The Yellow Vest protests began over a planned fuel-price hikes linked to climate change measures, however they soon evolved into a general protest against the Macron government. While the fuel hikes were temporarily postponed for six months, protesters continue to call for...

For all the years of its existence, the 12-member police force of Newman, California never had a line of duty death, until that of Officer Ronil Singh, who was shot multiple times at a traffic stop by a member of the Surenos Mexican gang.

The gangbanger killer Gustavo Perez Arriaga fled but has since been captured. He was attempting to escape to Mexico, and seven people assisted him — all are here illegally — and most are family.THE ILLEGAL ALIEN AIDERS AND ABETTORS

Arriaga’s brother, Adrian Virgen, 25, and coworker, Erik Razo Quiroz, 32, were arrested Thursday for accessory after the fact to a felony. Virgen was arrested in Hanford and Quiroz in Modesto, Christianson said.

They are here illegally.

He said they were trying to protect Arriaga, who was trying to go to Mexico.

“That was his goal, to get across the border,” he said.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said two men and a woman were arrested at the same home where Arriaga was found for aiding and abetting the suspect.

Sheriff of Stanislaus County Adam Christianson told Jason Chaffetz, who was hosting the Ingraham Angle last night that all seven arrested are in the country illegally.

Detectives also arrested Gustavo Arriaga’s girlfriend and another of his brothers, accusing them of helping Arriaga evade police.

The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department identified them as Ana Leyde Cervantes, 30, and Conrado Virgen Mendoza, 34. Cervantes was arrested in Turlock and Mendoza in Livermore. Ana Leyde Cervantes Youngblood also added that handcuffs owned by Singh were used in Arriaga’s arrest.

“Officer Singh’s handcuffs were brought down, and they’re on that guy for his trip home,” Youngblood said.

THIS WAS AN ENTIRELY PREVENTABLE MURDER

At the news conference Friday, Christianson had strong words about immigration and border security.

“We can’t ignore the fact that this could’ve been preventable,” he said, adding that California Senate Bill 54 — which became law last year — prohibited his department “from sharing any information with ICE about this criminal gang member.”

SB 54 bars law enforcement from detaining a person due to a hold request, responding to federal immigration enforcement’s requests for notification or providing information about a person’s release date unless that’s already available publicly.

President Donald trump did not have any good news for federal workers who are effected by the government shutdown.

The president signed an executive order freezing pay for federal employees for 2019.

This mean employees of the federal government will not be getting raises in the new year, CNN reported.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday freezing federal workers’ pay for 2019, following through on a proposal he announced earlier in the year.

The move, which nixes a 2.1% across-the-board pay raise that was set to take effect in January, comes as hundreds of thousands of federal employees are expecting to begin the new year furloughed or working without pay because of a partial government shutdown.

Trump told lawmakers he planned to scrap the 2019 pay bump for federal workers in August, saying the federal budget couldn’t support it. In addition to the 2.1% pay increase, the executive order also cancels a yearly adjustment of paychecks based on the region of the country where workers are posted, called the “locality pay increase,” that was due to take effect in January.

The move does not affect a 2.6% pay increase for US troops next year that was passed as part of the massive defense spending bill Trump signed in August.

The Daily Mail reported that some were shocked by this move.

Even in light of the fact that President Trump said he would do this long ago.

‘This is just pouring salt into the wound,’ Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union – which represents about 100,000 federal workers – said in a statement.‘It is shocking that federal employees are taking yet another financial hit. As if missed paychecks and working without pay were not enough, now they have been told that they don’t even deserve a modest pay increase.’In addition to blocking the blanket raise, the order cancelled locality pay increases -paycheck adjustments made based on the region of the country where workers are posted.However, the move will not affect a scheduled 2.6 percent pay raise for American troops that was passed as part of the massive defense spending bill Trump signed this fall.Lawmakers could step in and include the scheduled raise in the 2019 spending bill, which is currently stalledover the Democrats intransigence on...

In August, The New York Times — “All the News That’s Fit to Print” — reported that “Tornadoes on the East Coast May Be a Sign of Things to Come.” And why, you may ask? Well, you probably needn’t have asked.

“A tornado, albeit a weak one, touched down in New York City last Thursday, in the College Point neighborhood of Queens,” the story read. “A few days earlier, a stronger tornado was spotted near the town of Douglas, in central Massachusetts. And a few days later a whirlwind ripped through nearby Webster, displacing dozens of people from their damaged homes.

“The storms were far from the region in the middle of the country known as Tornado Alley, where the bulk of the nation’s tornadoes occur. In a summer already marked by simmering heat that researchers have linked to global warming, is climate change also making tornadoes more common in places where they once were infrequent?”

It wasn’t until four paragraphs down that a professor of earth system science at Stanford University was quoted as saying that twisters “are the kind of extreme event where we have the least confidence in our ability to attribute the odds or characteristics of individual events to an influence of global warming.”

That didn’t stop The Times’ Kendra Pierre-Lewis from saying scientists “can simulate the broader, changing climate to see how it will affect the underlying conditions that create thunderstorms, which set the stage for tornadoes.”

“We do have strong evidence that at the large scale that global warming is likely to increase the atmospheric environments that create the kind of severe thunderstorm that produces tornadoes,” the Stanford scientist, Noah Diffenbaugh, said.

So, how is that working out for us? Well, unless something happens in the three days left this calendar year, we’re set for a major record.

“We’re now days away from this becoming the first year in the modern record with no violent tornadoes touching down in the United States,” The Washington Post’s Ian Livingston reported. “Violent tornadoes are the strongest on a 0 to 5 scale, or those ranked EF4 or EF5.

“It was a quiet year for tornadoes overall, with below normal numbers most months. Unless you’re a storm chaser, this is not bad news. The low tornado count is undoubtedly a big part of...